Wednesday, 7. November 2012

Neutrino oscillation is a term used in physics, describing an extraordinary behaviour of subatomic particles called Neutrinos. On their way from sun to earth they frequently change their state of mass and – simplistically spoken – we don´t know why that happens.
This is a short description of the physics problem that started a chain reaction of artworks, finally resulting in a real encounter of artists and physicists in the RAW DATA translation hub workshop.
The exhibition of results of the RAW DATA transformation process, displayed within the context of the international Symposium "Remaking Research" at Emily Carr University, Nov1-3, 2012, showed a multiplicity of artistic views on the specific problem.
It seems as if the artworks are "brilliant representations" (Tim Meyer) of what was formulated by Dr. Kendall Mahn, experimental physicist at TRIUMF, Canada´s National Laboratory for Particle and Nuclear Physics, Vancouver. But could they also deliver relevant information for physicists? Is it possible to treat art as raw data and can art be re-translated into the realm of physics? Or in other words: what do we hope to discover?
These questions were discussed in a lively conversation between RAW DATA artists, curators, scientists and audience.
Besides its definite qualities in visualizing and communicating a certain topic, artworks can probably "not solve a problem" but can contribute to "surrounding" the problem (Gloria Steinem).
The artworks offer insights which might change our understanding of things but not necessarily explain them in full. In this sense RAW DATA is an open ended process where the inquiry stays discursive and unpredictable and it enters the field of possibilities from which something new may emerge.